[ixtli]

I agree with everything here except the idea that you shouldn't start with MacVIM. The main issue with new users getting into modal editors is the learning curve. If you can reduce the upfront difficulty by accepting OS-specific hotkeys and mouse events, why not?

Using VIM saves you time and a smart user will search out the ways the editor can help her, but there's no value in making the user go cold turkey.

[tthayer]

The main problem I have with suggesting starting with MacVim is that using it doesn't translate well when you're SSH'd into another system running a different OS. I've been using Vim for a while (and now neovim) and recently tried out MacVim and it just didn't make any sense to me. The menus are totally non-intuitive if you're used to doing everything from the keyboard. Conversely, I wouldn't expect someone who started by using MacVim to be comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts either.

Opening up a virgin vim session on a new system kind of makes you realize how much you'll miss out on if you don't know about :set number, :set wrap, :set syntax <whatever>.

[pyre]

> The menus are totally non-intuitive if you're used to doing everything from the keyboard

You can disable the menus, and using MacVim doesn't require you to use the menus. I use Vim 100% with the keyboard, and I still use MacVim.